Tag Archives: The Computer Science Channel

UCTV and the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department at UC San Diego have launched The Computer Science Channel.”Our faculty are directing research that is transforming the world in a variety of ways and have made us one of the top research departments worldwide,” says CSE Chair Dean Tullsen, who welcomes users to the channel. Adds Tullsen: “This channel is bringing stories about how computer science is revolutionizing many industries and disciplines, from computer graphics to computational biology.” The Computer Science Channel aims to connect viewers to the world of computing and its impact on the world around us. New content produced for the Channel in a partnership between CSE and UCTV will also begin airing on UCTV and UCSD-TV in the near future.

New video features debuting on the channel in October include a series called Bits & Bytes, a collection of short features. “Teaching Computer Science Online” looks at UC San Diego computer scientists who are in the vanguard of a new movement to offer high-level computer science courses (known as massive open online courses, or MOOCs) to meet some of the pent-up demand for high-level computer science education around the world. Bits & Bytes also features “The Quadcopter Class” in which students build tiny quadcopter drones as a capstone project, and gain experience in conceiving, designing, building and programming a remote-controlled quadcopter.

The Computer Science Channel also documents where some of the department’s students go after graduation. For the October launch, the Alumni Profiles section poses the question: How does a single mom on her own, far from home, achieve success in the world of computer science? In her own words, CSE alumna Anu Mupparthi (B.S. ’08, M.S. ’11) describes the special roles the department and the field of computer science played in her development from single-parent computer novice to software engineer at Google Photos.

The joint CSE and UCTV channel also features Computing Primetime, about how computer science is interacting with and transforming many other disciplines and sectors. Among the episodes now available on The Computer Science Channel are:

• “Decoding the Microbiome”, a conversation between CSE professors Larry Smarr and Rob Knight about the role that computing, cyberinfrastructure and gene sequencing play in helping better understand the role the microbiome plays in human health. (Smarr also directs Calit2, while Knight directs the new Center for Microbiome Innovation.);

Another section of the Channel is dedicated to Computing around UC, featuring video segments and programs related to computer science and produced at any of the 10 University of California campuses. The initial programming includes pieces about two UC San Diego researchers: the aforementioned Rob Knight of CSE and Pediatrics, who won the 2015 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science; and Jacqueline Kerr, a researcher in the Qualcomm Institute’s Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems. Kerr’s presentation focuses on what wearable cameras and GPS can tell us about human behavior.